


Stress Baking

by rboudreau



Category: Big Brother RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-21
Updated: 2015-08-21
Packaged: 2018-04-16 10:00:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4621086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rboudreau/pseuds/rboudreau
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A.U.gust - Day 6: "You’re baking cookies in the communal kitchen at 3am and I’m angry but also really hungry."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stress Baking

**Author's Note:**

> Bazinga, AUgust is back.

“Shit!” he heard from the dorm kitchen.

Frankie growled and tossed his covers off his body, getting out of bed. He’d been listening to someone swearing and banging things around in the kitchen for at least the last half hour, and he was really close to murdering whoever it was just so he could go back to sleep. It was 3 o’clock in the morning, they could at least be considerate of the person living in the dorm room closest to the kitchen.

He pulled a pair of shorts and his flip flops on and walked out of his room, squinting at the bright lights in the hallway. He walked through the door next to his room that lead to the kitchen and smelled cookies baking, making his stomach growl. 

He saw someone’s head above the open refrigerator door, then watched them close the door and move over to the counter near the oven. He recognized him as a guy that lived on the other side of the floor as him, Zach Rance. They’d interacted a few times, but they mostly had opposite schedules. Case in point, Zach baking cookies in the middle of the night while Frankie was trying to sleep.

Frankie took another step into the kitchen, crossing his arms over his chest. “You know it’s 3am, right?”

Zach jumped and spun around to face him, a guilty expression on his face. “Uh…”

“You’ve been dropping and slamming things and swearing for like a half hour,” Frankie continued. “Some of us require sleep at this time of night.”

Now Zach really looked guilty. “Shit. I’m sorry, dude. I’m just...nevermind. I’ll try to keep it down.”

He turned back around and Frankie stood there studying him for a moment. He sighed and walked further into the kitchen.

“What are you doing, anyway?” he asked.

Zach was stirring things together in a bowl, not looking at him. “Making cookies.”

“I can see that,” he said with a small smile. “I meant, why are you baking cookies in the middle of the night?”

He saw Zach hesitate with his stirring for a moment. “I’m stress baking. It sounds lame, but it’s a habit I picked up, I guess.”

Frankie contemplated that, leaning against the other end of the counter and watching Zach. “What’s got you stress baking at this time of night?” Zach tensed. “You don’t have to tell me. Just thought I’d lend an ear if you needed it.”

Zach stirred the cookie batter in the bowl in front of him in silence. He was in the process of adding chocolate chips to the bowl before he spoke. “I kissed one of my friends tonight. I think I might’ve fucked up.”

Frankie frowned. “I’m sure you didn’t fuck up. You’ll see, it probably won’t be that big of a deal. Just talk to her tomorrow, and work it out.”

Zach scooped a spoonful of batter onto a cookie sheet and glanced at Frankie for a second, then turned back to what he was doing. “Him.”

He furrowed his eyebrows together. “What?” He watched Zach’s face turn red and waited.

“Talk to _him_ tomorrow. Not her.” He watched Frankie’s face to get a read on what he was thinking. “The friend I kissed...was a guy...and I’m kind of freaking out about it.”

Frankie wasn’t too surprised. Any time he and Zach had spoken in the past, he’d gotten the feeling that Zach was checking him out or flirting with him, but he hadn’t wanted to make any assumptions.

He exhaled slowly and gave Zach a sympathetic look. “That doesn’t have to mean anything. People experiment in college.” He saw the pained look on Zach’s face, and it reminded him of when he’d first hooked up with a guy during freshman year and one of his casual friends had suggested he was just experimenting, and remembering how that didn’t fit what he was feeling. “Or it could mean something. That’s something only you know.”

Zach put the tray of cookies in the oven, took a finished tray out of the oven and set it on the stove, set his timer, then took a seat at the table a few feet away. Frankie sat in the seat beside him. 

“I don’t know,” Zach said quietly. “Everything’s a mess in my head.”

“That’s okay,” Frankie said gently. “You don’t have to figure it all out right now.”

Zach put his head in his hands and thought about everything. He watched Frankie stand up and walk over to the oven, coming back with cookies in hand. He gave a couple to Zach and ate one himself. Zach smiled gratefully at him and shoved one of the cookies in his mouth, chewing it slowly.

He swallowed the last bite and felt a little more calm as he looked at Frankie. “Thanks.”

Frankie shrugged, smiling at him. “They were your cookies. All I did was hand them to you.”

That wasn’t what Zach was thanking him for, and they both knew it. But Zach smiled and stood up as his timer went off, walking over to the oven to grab the tray of cookies out and shut the oven off. He started putting the first batch into a container he’d brought into the kitchen, then loaded the fresh batch in. He put the cookie sheets into the sink and started washing them. Frankie came up behind him and grabbed some paper towels, drying the dishes as he went.

“You don’t have to do that, Frankie.”

Frankie smiled. “It’s okay. I don’t mind.”

They finished the dishes pretty quickly and Zach put them away. When he faced Frankie again, he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest.

“I think I might be...I think I’m bi,” Zach said after a moment.

Frankie paused and then stepped forward, grabbing Zach’s hand, giving the container of cookies to him, then bringing Zach to his room. Zach stopped outside Frankie’s doorway, looking apprehensive.

“It’s okay,” Frankie said reassuringly. “We’re just going to lay down and talk and fall asleep. That’s it.”

Zach nodded nervously and stepped inside Frankie’s room, closing the door behind them. 

He followed Frankie to his bed, climbing in beside him. He felt a flood of nerves as Frankie put an arm across his waist. Frankie’s thumb was rubbing circles into his side, and Zach couldn’t look away from Frankie’s stare.

Frankie let him talk freely about what was going on in his head, listening intently and running a comforting hand up and down his side. Zach shared his cookies with Frankie as he ranted about what happened with his friend and how Zach had ended up kissing him.

Somehow, Frankie had ended up with Zach’s earlobe between his finger and thumb, rubbing it slowly. Zach had stopped speaking and was staring at Frankie, eyes flicking across his face.

Zach was pretty sure he was the one that leaned in, but all he cared about was the fact that he and Frankie were kissing, and he couldn’t deny that he liked it.

They ended the kiss not long after it started, and Zach giggled nervously and buried his face in Frankie’s neck. Frankie laughed, carding his hand through Zach’s hair.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Frankie murmured. “All that matters is that you’re happy. You don’t have to have all this figured out in one night.”

Zach looked up at him with a shy look on his face. “Thanks.”

Frankie yawned as he pulled Zach closer to cuddle with him, dropping a kiss onto his shoulder. “You should definitely keep stress baking, though, because those cookies were good.” Zach laughed, burrowing himself into Frankie’s embrace. “Just not at 3am.”

Zach giggled and nodded. “Okay. Deal.”

**Author's Note:**

> I appreciate any and all comments/kudos/critique you are willing to give me. Thanks for taking the time to read this!
> 
> If you want to chat, you can find me on tumblr at [ be-your-own-anchor5](http://www.be-your-own-anchor5.tumblr.com)


End file.
